"Rise and shine!" Darry poked his head in his brothers' room. "Get on up you two. There's only twenty minutes left before we have to leave." He walked back out to the kitchen.
Pony moaned and rolled over to see if Soda was awake. "Aah!" He screamed as he met his brothers face. Soda was awake then. "What happened to you?" Pony asked.
Soda sighed, remembering. "Had a run in with her brother again. Don't tell Darry."
"You don't think he's gonna notice? Golly Soda, you've practically got a baseball sticking out of your face."
"Shut up, it ain't that bad." Soda said. He got up and headed for the shower but then caught site of himself in the mirror and nearly went nuts. Pony laughed. "Pony I'm going to work out the window. Tell Darry I left a while ago." Soda said, quickly putting some pants on and searching for his DX shirt.
"But he just came in the room to wake us up." Pony pointed out.
"Oh, right." Soda said. He sighed and went to take a shower. He'd just have to explain his face sooner than he'd hoped.
He showered and got dressed and then headed out to the kitchen to meat his doom. Pony followed, hoping to beat Two-Bit to the chocolate cake before he came by. "After you have your breakfast do up the dishes you two." Darry said, leaving the kitchen and going out to load the truck. Soda made sure to stay turned away from Darry the whole time so he wouldn't see him. When Darry left he sat down at the kitchen table and ate his eggs with jelly and chocolate cake.
"You really outta put some ice on your eye." Pony said. Soda just sighed.
"Morning." Two-Bit yelled, walking through the front door with Steve.
"Morning." Pony and Soda chorused.
"Soda we got to go soon. It's already 7:3-" Steve stopped. "What happened to your face?"
"Nothing. I'll tell you later." Soda mumbled. "Two-Bit's liable to open his big mouth when Darry asks."
"I figure I already know what happened to your face." Two-bit grinned. "That chicks big brother did it, didn't he?"
"Steve, why didn't you tell me her brother was a social?" Soda asked his best friend, ignoring Two-Bit's question.
"Hey, I didn't know. All Tina said was that she had this friend she thought you'd like." Steve said.
"Looks like he won the fight." Two-Bit said.
"Man, he's a big guy." Soda said, annoyed that Two-Bit had to bring that up.
"Hurry up." Darry said, walking back in the front door. "You ain't getting out of doing the dishes today. Somehow I end up doing them myself half the time and-" He stopped mid-sentenced as he caught sight of his little brothers face. "What in the world-"
"It's nothing." Soda said.
"No, It's something. How'd it happen?" Darry demanded, getting an icepack out and handing it to Soda.
"How do you think it happened?" Soda asked. "Got in a fight with a soc. Ain't no biggie."
"Come here." Darry said, motioning for Soda to follow him into a different room.
"Why?" Soda asked.
"Right now." Soda got up and went reluctantly. "Would this soc happen to be related to a friend of yours?" Darry asked, closing the bedroom door and crossing his arms over his chest. Soda just sighed deeply. "Well no wonder someone was in such a hurry to get to bed last night." Darry said sarcastically. "You know, if you had put that ice on there last night it would've really helped the swelling." He commented. Soda rolled his eyes. "All-right, spill. I want the whole story. Right now."
"What's to tell? I dropped her off and I still had some time left so I went into town. Unfortunately he caught site of me and was hacked off since he saw me with Amanda earlier when we were out I guess." Darry shook his head and sighed, genuinely worried that her brother might continue these attacks. "I did what you said though Darry. When I caught site of his blade I ran out of there instead of fighting back."
"He pulled a blade on you?"
"That ain't what I said. I said I saw his blade. It was in his pocket. So when I saw it I left first chance I got and sprinted back to the truck. That's what you told us to do."
Darry nodded. "Yeah, good job. That's what you should've done but I don't like him coming after you."
"I said I could take him." Soda protested.
"But you didn't take him! I ain't saying you should've. He's bigger than you are, I'm sure. You're the one that's gonna get hurt and that's exactly what's worrying me." Darry said. "You should tell Amanda."
"Why? What's that gonna do except make her worry too?" Soda asked.
"Well maybe if she gives him trouble about it for a while he'll knock it off. And I swear if you come home looking like that again he's gonna be the one that needs protection when I get my hands on him."
Soda laughed. "Big brother against big brother, huh?"
"That's right. Now c'mon or we'll all be late and keep that ice on your eye. It looks terrible." Darry said and they both walked back out to the group.
"Gosh, thanks." Soda said, sarcastically. Now I just have to make sure Amanda doesn't go nuts when she sees me. He thought.